


Patient, Incredulous, and Oblivious

by msraven



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Comics/Cartoon Clint, Getting Together, M/M, MCU Bucky, POV Outsider, Steve Is a Good Bro, probably an au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 17:36:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14242389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msraven/pseuds/msraven
Summary: Steve finally sees something that changes his point of view. He just knows Sam is going to tease him mercilessly for not figuring out sooner.Lucky for Clint and Bucky that Steve is such a good friend.





	Patient, Incredulous, and Oblivious

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kultiras](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kultiras/gifts).



> A slightly late birthday gift for Kultiras—thanks for all of your years of encouragement! (And look, I posted something instead of just texting you random fic ideas.)
> 
> Un-beta’d because that would have ruined the surprise, so all mistakes are my own.

“Okay. Get some sleep and I’ll see you soon. Bye Sam.” 

Steve ended the call and slipped the phone back in his pocket before stepping back inside The Corner Bar. He hadn’t really expected Sam to have the energy after debrief to join them, but Steve still appreciated him calling to check in.

He took a quick glance around and noted how much busier the place had gotten since he, Clint, and Bucky had arrived earlier that night. Steve wasn't surprised to see that someone had slotted themselves into the spot he'd vacated next to Clint at the bar. Based on is body language, the other guy was clearly trying to flirt with Clint—he was leaning against the bar, head tilted coyly, body turned fully and listing slightly toward Clint. Clint, on the other hand, looked completely oblivious to the other person's attention and was still turned mostly forward on the stool, his eyes flicking periodically to the televisions playing the hockey game.

Steve sighed. While Clint was downright cocky when it came to his marksmanship, he never seemed to understand how attractive he was. Steve figured it had to do with Clint's less than normal upbringing. Clint never saw anything positive in himself outside of his aim and few people were patient enough to push through that first barrier. There were even fewer that were willing to deal with a lifetime of self esteem issues combined with the horrible schedules the Avengers typically kept. What Steve truly wished for his friend was to find someone who was willing to find out how great a guy Clint was. Not just in the physical sense, but Clint was loyal, kind, and unassumingly charming. If Steve were honest with himself, he'd admit that it was really Clint's open nature that had smoothed the way to Bucky adjusting to life with the Avengers. 

Speaking of Bucky… Steve glanced over to the other side of the bar where Bucky had been holding court with a few women over by the dart boards. It had been Clint’s idea for them to get out of the Tower regularly to, in his words, mingle with the regular folk. They’d both grinned like doting mothers when Bucky had struck up a conversation with the women seated next to them at the bar. Bucky had always been a natural flirt and it was nice to see him gain back a little of his old self. Not completely back to the way he was before the war—which was understandable after everything he’d been through—because Steve could see how his eyes would still flick up periodically, likely confirming exit points. 

As he watched, Bucky suddenly tensed, his eyes narrowing in anger. Steve immediately went on alert, turning his head to confirm whatever it was that Bucky had seen, but didn't see anything amiss. The only thing in Bucky's line of sight was Clint laughing at something the guy talking to him had said. Steve looked back toward Bucky, but he was already striding purposely across the room. Steve edged closer through the crowd, ready to jump in if he was needed.

Bucky stepped up close to Clint's back, his face morphing into an easy smile when Clint leaned into him and looked up, with Clint's head resting comfortably on Bucky's metal shoulder. Bucky bent slightly to whisper in Clint's ear and Clint nodded, then turned away slightly to motion at the bartender. As Clint was turned away, Bucky leveled a steely look at the guy who had been talking to Clint. The guy's hand, which had been resting lightly on Clint's forearm, immediately dropped to his side. Bucky gave the guy a smile that was all teeth before leaning further against Clint to reach for the new pint of beer with his left hand, not at all trying to hide how the metal reflected the light. Bucky whispered something else into Clint's ear that made him grin brightly back, before very obviously giving Clint's hip a squeeze with his right hand and slipping away.

The guy next to Clint gave Bucky one last frightened glance, mumbled something to Clint, and walked away. Clint gave no attention to the guy's retreat, but he did turn to look toward the dart boards with a small, wistful smile on his face. Then he shook his head as if to clear it and turned back to the watch the game.

Steve was frozen where he stood, suddenly seeing the interaction between his two friends in a new light. He thought back on the amount of time Clint and Bucky spent together, the way they invaded each other's space more than with anyone else, and how noticeably animated they each were when the other person was in the room. Judging by the look on Clint's face when he didn’t realize anyone was looking, he liked Bucky, but wouldn't let himself believe that Bucky could have any feelings for him in return. The real question was Bucky. What did he have to gain by chasing away a guy flirting with Clint?

"Sam okay?" Clint asked as Steve sat down next to him, still lost in thought at the new revelation.

"Um, yeah. A few bruises. Tired."

"You want to head out? Go check on him?"

"What? No, why?"

Clint raised and eyebrow at him. "You seem distracted. I can hang out and wait for Bucky if you want to go, or I can embarrass him at darts in front of his new friends if you want us all to leave now."

"No, Sam's okay. We don't need to leave. I just—" Steve took a deep breath to settle himself before he said something he shouldn’t. "I actually need to ask Bucky something. Outside. Where it's less noisy. You okay here for a bit?"

"Sure, Steve. I promise not to get sucked into a parallel universe while I'm sitting here watching the game."

Steve scowled at the sarcasm because it was asking for something to happen. 

Clint laughed and made a shooing motion with his hand. "Go on and have your bro-talk. Geez. You worry too much."

Steve didn't bother denying the accusation, stood, and walked over to Bucky. 

"Steve!" Bucky called out cheerfully as he approached. "Everybody, meet Steve."

Steve waved at the folks gathered watching Bucky shoot darts and didn't miss how Bucky's eyes strayed toward Clint as he threw.

"Bucky. Could I talk to you for a sec? Outside maybe?"

"Dunno. It's getting pretty crowded in here. Clint's gonna have a hard time saving your seat."

"I'm not worried."

If Steve hadn't been watching for it, he would have missed the slight furrow in Bucky's brow before he threw an arm around Steve's shoulders. "Come on then, pal," he said with over exaggerated joviality. "Let's go talk."

Bucky dropped his arm once they got outside, turned to face Steve, and then walked back a few paces.

"Sam get back okay?”

“Yeah.”

“What’d ya want to talk about then?”

“Some guy asked me for Clint’s number,” Steve lied. “You think it’d be okay if I did?”

All mirth immediately seeped out of Bucky as he scowled. “Why don’t you show me who and I’ll see?”

“Wouldn’t Clint be the better judge?”

“No!” Bucky responded vehemently and then took a breath. “He doesn’t need some idiot crawling all over him. From what Nat says, he may be too flattered to say no even if the guy’s not worth his time.”

“So you’d be protecting him from himself?”

“Someone has to.”

“And not because you want Clint for yourself?”

Bucky forced a laugh and looked away. “Clint and I are just friends.”

“You sure? Because that was a pretty possessive display earlier.”

Bucky’s eyes swung back to Steve’s with a wince. “You saw that?”

Steve nodded. “Come on, Buck. You didn’t have a problem flirting with those gals tonight. Why not Clint?”

“It’s not the same thing.”

“Why not? Clint likes you. Or he would if he let himself think he had a chance with you. Why isn’t it the same?”

“Cuz it’s important, okay? Clint… Clint’s the most important thing in my life. Shit! Sorry. No offense. It’s not that—”

“It’s okay, Buck,” Steve said with a happy smile as he took a step forward to place a supportive hand on Bucky’s shoulder. “I get it. You know I’ve only ever wanted the best for you. We’re brothers. You falling in love won’t change that.”

Bucky groaned—but didn’t disagree—and dropped his head on Steve’s shoulder dramatically, which answered what Steve needed to know about how Bucky felt about Clint. 

“If it helps,” Steve said after a moment, “I think you’re good for each other.”

“So what do I do?”

“Well… Maybe start with flirting with Clint. Though you may need to apologize to your new friends.”

“Nah. They’ve been teasing me all night about how I look at Clint.”

“Smart ladies.”

“Yeah.” Bucky took a deep breath, straightened away from Steve, and squared his shoulders. “Okay. Flirt with Clint. I can do this.”

Steve stopped Bucky by putting both hands on his shoulders. “This doesn’t have to be hard. You're not about to go into battle. Just… be yourself. Treat Clint like I think you’ve been wanting to.”

"You think so?"

"It may have taken me a ridiculous amount of time to figure it out, but I have eyes. I can see that Clint cares about you. I bet Sam's already figured it out."

Bucky blushed and scuffed his shoe against the pavement. "He told me to be patient with Clint."

"Sam hasn't known Clint very long. Yeah, he may seem cocky most of the time, but Clint is very bad at gauging other people's interest in him. Natasha would be the best person to get advice from, but don't be surprised if you have to tell Clint point blank that you like him beyond friendship."

"Did— Did you ever…?"

Now it was Steve's turn to blush. "A small crush when I first met him," Steve admitted. "Hard not to. Realized pretty quickly we were better as friends. Think it was 'cuz he reminded me a bit of you."

"What if—"

"No," Steve cut Bucky off quickly with a shake of his head. "Clint is different with you. Trust me."

He thought back to as recently as that morning in the kitchen. Steve had seen Clint's eyes light up and knew without hearing the shuffle of feet that Bucky had walked into the room. Clint had handed Bucky the full cup of coffee he'd just poured himself, ruffled his hair in response to Bucky's sleepy smile, and stood to make a fresh pot. Or a few nights ago when Bucky had slid the last slices of pizza in front of Clint even though he'd stood in line for an hour at his favorite pizzeria to get it. Clint, who had just gotten back from a SHIELD mission, had looked at Bucky like he'd hung the moon and spent the whole time leaning against Bucky's side as he ate. 

“Trust me”, Steve repeated and felt like smacking himself for being so dense. Freely sharing their pizza and coffee for those two was like shouting declarations off rooftops for anyone else. He gave Bucky a little shake and hoped that some of his new clarity would pass on. “Now go in there and get your guy.”

Steve steered them both inside, but then let his hands drop and walked by Bucky to retake his seat next to Clint. He’d done what he could. The rest was up to Bucky. 

A moment later, Bucky sidled up to the bar and, after the briefest hesitation, stepped close enough to be pressed against Clint’s back, his right hand once again landing on Clint’s hip. 

“You need another beer?” Clint asked. 

“Nah,” Bucky responded and Steve’s sharp eyes barely caught the shiver that ran through Clint as Bucky’s breath ghosted across his ear. “Want you to come play darts with me.”

“Game’s not over.”

“Knights are ahead three-zero with two minutes left. Nothing left to watch.”

“You get that I’m better than you at darts, right?”

“I know. That’s the point,” Bucky said, turning slightly without losing contact with Clint. “ _Please?_ Steve can come too.”

Steve had to bite his lip to keep from chuckling because he could see how easily Clint caved when confronted with Bucky’s pout and puppy dog eyes. 

“Okay.”

“Great!” Bucky stepped back and grabbed Clint’s wrist to gently pull him off the stool. Once Clint was standing, there was another small moment of hesitation, and then Bucky slid his hand down to Clint’s to intertwine their fingers together. "Come on," Bucky said and used their joined hands to tug Clint forward. "I've been talking about you all night. They want to meet you."

Clint followed along and, if Steve were to guess by his expression, was bouncing between confusion, surprise, and happiness at Bucky's attention. He glanced over his shoulder and Steve gave him an encouraging smile before trailing behind them. Clint and Steve were introduced to the group Bucky had been talking to before Bucky finally released Clint's hand to give him a set of darts. Clint smirked, didn't look away from Bucky, and threw the three darts in quick succession at the board. All three hit the bullseye.

The people watching all clapped and cheered, but Bucky only rolled his eyes at Clint. He walked over the board, took out the three darts, and walked back. This time, he held onto Clint's hands as he handed him the dart.

"Don't throw them yet," Bucky instructed. "How am I going to properly show you off if you make it too easy?"

Bucky winked at Clint and then slid behind him. Clint dutifully didn't move as Bucky reached over Clint's right shoulder to cover his eyes with his hand. Clint relaxed into the hold and they slotted together smoothly—Bucky moved to be flush against Clint's back as Clint lifted his throwing arm to allow Bucky to slide his metal arm around his waist. Steve was suddenly reminded of how well Bucky and Clint moved together while training or in the midst of a fight.

"It is unfair how hot they look together," the woman to Steve's right complained. "The sex is going to be amazing when they finally get around to it."

Steve choked on his next sip of beer at the unexpected comment and the women laughed as the one closest to Steve patted his back.

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine," Steve croaked out. "Just… Buck's essentially my brother and I work with them both and…" Steve trailed off, not sure if he was digging himself out or sinking deeper.

"It's okay. We get it. They're adorable together though."

"Uh…"

"I'm Janice, by the way. This is Nadine, Julie, and Cathy."

"Nice to meet you."

"We're glad you were able to convince James to finally make a move with Clint," Julie said.

"To be fair, I only just figured it out tonight," Steve admitted. He looked back over to where Bucky and Clint were still horsing around with the darts, trying to come up with increasingly dangerous trick shots. Without the revelation he'd had tonight, Steve probably would have chalked up their interaction as two buddies having fun—if you completely ignored how they spent the whole time draped over each other or how their eyes went soft when they thought the other one wasn't looking.

"You're serious?" Nadine asked. "I thought you all lived together?"

"From just the way James said Clint's name..." Cathy added. "He's clearly ass over tea kettle for Clint."

The other women nodded in agreement and Steve fought a blush of embarrassment at his obliviousness. 

"Uh… They're not usually as obvious?" Steve tried. 

Janice reached over and patted his hand consolingly. "Sure, Steve."

Bucky and Clint soon joined them at the table, the women shooting Steve knowing looks at how closely the two were sitting and how Bucky kept his arm draped loosely behind Clint's back as they chatted. It turned out that Janice and Nadine were newlyweds and had recently decided to start looking to adopt a child. Clint quietly offered to put them in contact with some people he knew were trustworthy, which led to a discussion on the merits of fostering and Clint's own experiences with the system.

It was then that _The Moment_ happened.

Bucky had been looking at Clint with a mix of love and admiration as he'd talked. Then, as Clint handed Janice his phone to enter in her contact info, Clint glanced up and Bucky didn't look away, didn't try to hide. Steve watched Clint's jaw go slack in shock as he looked at Bucky with wide eyes, finally letting himself believe what he was seeing. After a few beats, Clint titled his head to the side in a silent question and Bucky responded with a small nod and a smile. A blush tinged Clint's cheeks as he gave an answering smile in return and settled a little more snugly into Bucky's side. Bucky kissed Clint's temple and closed his eyes to savor the moment, looking more content than Steve ever remembered him being. 

They soon say their goodbyes to their new friends and decide to walk the short distance back to the Tower. This time, it's Clint who takes Bucky's hand as they walk and Bucky grins, wide and happy, the whole way home. It's no surprise to Steve when Bucky doesn't step off the elevator on their floor and instead wishes Steve a good night while sliding closer to Clint.

"Good night. I'll see you both in the morning," Steve says as he walks backward off the elevator, no longer trying to hide his amused grin, but he needn't have bothered because Clint and Bucky are focused only on each other. Clint gave Steve a distracted wave as Bucky slipped an arm around his waist and Steve watched their lips meet as the elevator doors closed.

Steve may not have set out tonight to bring two close friends together, but he couldn’t imagine a better end to an evening.

_fin_


End file.
